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LXer Weekly Roundup for 13-Feb-2011

Confessions of a Linux user: Linux User columnist Simon Brew has a confession to make. He has a Windows 7 installation for two reasons, and two reasons only. But why can't Linux play the same game to save him?

Is PCLinuxOS on the Ropes?: PCLinuxOS has suffered from its share of issues over the years. With difficulties ranging from personnel shake-ups to hosting problems, it seems developing and managing a Linux distribution can be challenging work. Perhaps sometimes it's more trouble than it's worth.

Johannesburg Stock Exchange to move to Linux: The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has announced that it is moving to an all Linux based trading platform when it relocates to Johannesburg. The JSE currently operates out of London and runs on the TradElect platform which is based on Microsoft .Net and SQL Server 2000. It plans to move to MilleniumIT's Millennium Exchange platform by the first half of 2012.

Why is Linux security so much better than Windows?: Have you ever wondered why Linux systems seem to get hacked so much less than Windows? Here is an excellent example: Imagine for a moment someone at a Windows conference going on for an hour, with source code and subsystem examples, all the ways he could imagine hacking into Windows via the USB system.

GC Lingua Franca(s): If we were already talking to our computers, etc. as we should be, I wouldn’t feel a need to write this to you. Given current rates of progress, Linux still seems a generation away from being the priceless piece of free software useful to every child and PhD. This army your kernel enables now has millions of people, but they are not working efficiently. My mail one year ago listed the biggest workitems, but I realize now I should have focused on one. In a sentence, I have discovered and “proved” that we need GC lingua franca(s).

Why are there so many Linux distros?: There are two great questions in life that people struggle to answer. The first is why we're here, and the second is why there are so many different Linux distributions. A Linux distribution, for the uninitiated, is the stack of software, configuration tools and desktop environments, all bound to the Linux kernel, that go together to make the entire operating system, which most of us call Linux.

GNU/Linux Accessibility for the Blind: Steve Holmes will demonstrate how a blind person can independently use a computer equipped with open source software and further demonstrate how the assistive technology works. Steve will conclude with a confirmation that blind people can not only use these configurations, but also be productive and that they have a right to use such.

Desktop Linux's Killer Feature: Flexibility.: Debian has a reputation in the world of Linux distributions as, well, "stodgy". Debian Stable is pointed to as being out of date, stale, boring. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Debian developers have put together a titanic number of software packages, and done the work to make them function together like... "...like an enormous clock."

Nokia-Microsoft: Will they succeed or continue to limp along in smartphones?: The broad Nokia-Microsoft partnership announced Friday in which the Windows Phone operating system would run on Nokia smartphones sounds like good news for both companies because of their struggles in the smartphone arena. But many analysts wonder what the companies will make of the relationship in the coming year. Can Nokia come up with smartphones, tablets and related services and applications that outdistance Google's Android, Apple's iPhone and others?

Headless Chickens Come Home to roost: "When asked about the possibility of dumping Windows in favor of Linux, AISD technol­o­gy director Gray Salada said that in terms of a cost-benefit analysis, it simply isn't worth it. Windows comes preinstalled on most computers, he said, so there is little savings to be realized from removing it and incurring the costs of retraining teachers and the district's 12 engineers, who are already proficient in Windows, to support Linux."